Map by u/KolonelJoe on Reddit.
Can the United States actually win againist both nations in the 1850s and take these territories? What would be the impact of slavery? Would this begin American colonization of Japan?
This is a grand idea!View attachment 786173
Map by u/KolonelJoe on Reddit.
Can the United States actually win againist both nations in the 1850s and take these territories? What would be the impact of slavery? Would this begin American colonization of Japan?
Cuba and Nicaragua are possible, although I'm not sure the US has a big enough navy and army to take lands any further away during the 1850s.
Yeah, I'd say that, assuming the US military gets the same size/funding as IOTL, it probably can't begin to contemplate transoceanic expansion until the 1880s or 1890s.I'm fairly sure it didn't. The US wasn't even confident enough in it's ability to project force to actually enforce the Monroe Doctrine itself, instead letting Britain handle it until arguably after the US' civil war.
And it's not just the number of ships or the size of the army, it's also the fact that the US simply lacks the basing to operate on a large scale outside of the Americas in the 1850s. Even the person who forced the Japanese to open their ports had to use British and Portuguese ports to get his ships there. There's zero chance of the US managing to get a large naval force and sufficient troops to either Japan or the Philippines and keep them supplied with any force multipliers like guns and artillery in the 1850s.
Yeah I’m seconding this idea. The US can probably take Nicaragua, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. They’re all relatively close to home and would likely have some basis of support amongst the locals in Cuba and Nicaragua, even if it wasn’t a large amount. It’s difficult to see the US being able to fight a two front naval war with Spain though. Maybe the smaller islands in the pacific could be claimed by a ship captain and his marines, but the Philippines seems extremely unlikely.Cuba and Nicaragua are possible, although I'm not sure the US has a big enough navy and army to take lands any further away during the 1850s.